Woodland Birthday Parties – Ignite Unlocking Potential

If you want your child to have a real and meaningful Birthday experience after school, on the weekend or during the school holidays and are looking for something a bit different, we have the solution that they will remember their entire childhood!

Set in our 4 acre woodland, children have the freedom to explore this natural setting with their friends and discover the adventurous spirit that resides inside them.

Birthday Party Options:

0-3 years: Toddlers can enjoy their very own bespoke Ladybirds session.

3-7 years: Children can choose their favourite story and we will bring it to life with a fun filled session based on their story.

7+ years: Children have the option of Bushcraft skills such as Den building, Fire lighting, using small tools, cooking on the campfire, Nature Arts & Crafts or Archery.

Whether your girl or boy is sporty or arty, quiet or outgoing, competitive or not, our Birthday Parties support your child’s physical, emotional and cognitive development during a fun packed 2 hour session in the safety of our boundaried 4 acre natural environment.

Parents and carers are often stunned at the significant impacts on their children’s confidence, communication skills and happiness during our parties. We will work with you and your child to ensure a birthday experience they will cherish forever!

Birthday Parties - Ignite Unlocking Potential

Tell us about your child's ideal Woodland Birthday Party

Your child will be safe and well with our qualified and DBS checked staff, who have over 20 years of combined experience running outdoor learning sessions with children .

Birthday Party Feedback

“I had my children’s party here today and it was awesome! … Staff fab and great communication. Nothing too much trouble for them… Thanks for making their day enjoyable and special ”

Leanne Hale (Bushcraft Birthday for Son & Daughter).

“What an awesome idea for a kids birthday party. They had bush crafts, den building, camp fire marshmallows, archery and loads of fun. Recommend this if your kids love the outdoors and getting muddy. Kids had great time”

Mark Blackmore (Bushcraft & Archery Birthday for Daughter).

“I can highly recommend! My 4 year old loved hers this year. The staff were fabulous ”

Lynsey Jayne (We are going on a bear hunt Birthday Party for Daughter).

With significant interest from Educators globally, the Skogsmulle International Symposium 2017 will give pedagogues the opportunity to experience and share innovation in Early Years practice through a series of workshops and master classes.
Ignite Unlocking Potential will showcase Wales’ first Nature Kindergarten and its leading edge practice, providing international pedagogues with a unique firsthand experience to observe how Nature Pedagogy has been embedded into a Foundation Phase setting in Wales.

DAY 1 SPEAKERS, WORKSHOPS & MASTERCLASSES INCLUDE:

Claire Warden

Claire Warden is an educational consultant who has developed her approach to nature pedagogy and experiential learning through a variety of experiences. Her experiences have taken her on a pathway that includes working in a variety of types of centre, advisory work, and lecturing in further education. Claire is currently based in Scotland but frequently travels to Australia, the United States and elsewhere.

As a lecturer in Primary Education at Strathclyde University, the development of training strategies and course creation have been applied to the dynamic and creative work currently undertaken by the company she first started, ‘Mindstretchers Ltd’. It has now grown to develop many aspects, including Claire’s own company, ‘Claire Warden Ltd’, through which Claire does her international and consultancy work, and her Community Interest Company, ‘Living Classrooms’, through which many community focussed projects have been delivered and which is now at the centre of the new International Association of Nature Pedagogy.

Claire Warden is an author of many books and materials relating to early years methodology. These include ‘The Potential of a Puddle’, which details UK national vision and values for outdoor play; ‘Talking and Thinking Floorbooks’, which presents the planning methodology that supports consultation and democracy in early education; ‘The Right to be Me’, which explores the rights of young children to high quality provision and ‘Nurture through Nature’, which explores working with children under three outside. ‘Nature Kindergartens and Forest Schools’ explores children’s connection to nature and naturalistic spaces such as forest schools, forest kindergartens, woodland camps, nature kindergartens. Claire’s latest book, Learning With Nature – Embedding Outdoor Practice, which is published by Sage, has been very well received and is rapidly gaining a place as required reading on many academic education courses.

Claire is also still closely involved with her own nature kindergarten, Auchlone Nature Kindergarten, in Perth and Kinross in Scotland. This outdoor nursery works with children from 2-6 yrs old, who spend up to 90% of their time outside. The three spaces of ‘inside’, ‘outside’ and ‘beyond’ are mindfully linked so as to develop skills and confidence in a predominantly natural environment.

Claire is one of a leadership group of consultants who make up the World Nature Collaborative, a working party of the World Forum Foundation. The purpose of the group is to develop a cohesive network and approach to experiential learning in outdoor spaces in a variety of climates. The nature collaborative brings together educators, landscape architects, environmentalists and health workers to support a multidisciplinary approach to outdoor educational provision. Mindstretchers continues to work closely with Local Authorities to support all aspects of education from 0-11 years. Claire has written courses to meet the needs in home based environments such as childminders and shared day care spaces such as playgroups .

Mindstretchers is also on the consultative committee on the place of Risk in Learning to the Scottish Government.

Alun Davies

Alun was born in Tredegar and went to Tredegar Comprehensive School followed by the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth where he read Politics. He was elected President of National Union of Students Wales. He first worked as a campaigner on
environmental issues for the World Wide Fund for Nature, and later as a poverty campaigner for Oxfam.
Alun worked as public and corporate affairs manager for Hyder which combined Wales’ main utilities. He was Head of Public Affairs at the UK Atomic Energy Authority, and later became Director of Corporate Affairs for S4C. In 2004 he established Bute Communications, his own public affairs consultancy.
On 13 May 2011 Alun was appointed Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and European Programmes. Between 14 March 2013 and 8 July 2014 Alun was Minister for Natural Resources and Food. Alun was appointed Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language on 19 May 2016.

The Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language is responsible for:

Vikki Howells

Vikki Howells is the Welsh Labour Assembly Member for Cynon Valley and her political interests include education; transport and the
economy; tackling poverty; community regeneration, and heritage
and culture.

Vikki is a lifelong resident of Cynon Valley, and was educated at St John Baptist Church in Wales High school, Aberdare, before attending the University of Wales, Cardiff, where she gained a bachelor’s degree in International and Welsh History, and a master’s degree in Modern Welsh History. Whilst studying at Cardiff, Vikki received the Charles Morgan award in recognition of her contribution to the field of Welsh History. Vikki is married and has a daughter.

Vikki worked as a History teacher at St Cenydd Community School, Caerphilly,
from 2000 to 2016, where she also undertook a range of pastoral roles, most
recently serving as Assistant Head of Sixth Form. Vikki has also worked as a
mentor for trainee teachers and has sat on the admissions panel for the History
PGCE course at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

Vikki joined the Labour Party at the age of 17 and has undertaken many roles
within her Constituency, including Women’s Officer and CLP Chair.

Darren Lewis

Darren Lewis is a passionate advocate of nature pedagogy as a means of facilitating interest-led, engaging and experiential learning programmes that develop physical, cognitive and social/emotional capability.
A qualified Teacher and Trainer, Darren founded Ignite following a visit
to Sweden where he observed first-hand the multitude of benefits children experience through learning in the outdoors.
After becoming the first teaching practitioner in Wales to become a certified Swedish Outdoor Learning pedagogue, Darren established Ladybirds ( a Nature Parent & Toddler group) & Wales First Nature Kindergarten based in Dare Valley Country Park.
A Director of the Forest School Association and Training Consultant for Mindstretchers™, Darren’s vision is to enable children in Wales to experience the rich learning experiences that only outdoors environments can provide to enable their full potential to be ignited and nurtured.

Christine Lewis

Christine is a Chartered member of the CIPD and certified Teacher, Trainer and
Coach. Christine has held various senior HR roles in the Telecommunications, Financial Services, Software Services and Retail sectors both in the UK and Middle East. A passionate advocate of facilitating learning and development interventions that enable people (both big and small) to unlock their potential and become the best version of themselves.

Steve Oakes - AQR International

Steve heads up AQR’s educational division and has responsibility for Business and Product development strategy is this sector. He manages product and material development for this sector as well as delivery and account management. Working with schools and colleges to make a positive impacts on key issues such as transition, attainment, bullying, employability, aspirations, classroom behaviour, and peer relationships.

Formerly Assistant Director of Sixth Form at Blue Coat School in Oldham where he led a programme since 2012 to embed a mental toughness culture throughout the school. Blue Coat School has won acclaim for producing one of the best sets of A level results in the UK. Blue Coat is a teaching school. Steve is adding to his practical experience by working on a PhD in Mental Toughness under the supervision of Professor Peter Clough.

Introduction to Skogsmulle - Juliet Robertson

Juliet’s interest in working with children outdoors began back in 1986 with a
gap year during an Environmental Science degree. During this time, she volunteered in the community and green sectors and worked at an urban environmental education centre in Philadelphia, USA. Before entering teaching she was a self-employed archaeologist and a seasonal assistant countryside ranger.
As a primary school teacher, Juliet continued to do a variety outdoor activities with children on a frequent and regular basis. She took children for weekly visits to the local woods and kick- started a school grounds development work. In conjunction with local rangers she set up a lunchtime Wildlife Watch Club. In 1995, she had a year-long teaching exchange to an outdoor centre in Ontario, Canada.This was a wonderful year and sowed the seeds of many ideas to come.
From 1998 to 2007, Juliet was a head teacher of three different schools, ranging in size from 6 to 270 pupils. Her international experience continued with study visits and educational trips to Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Norway and Bulgaria which focused on outdoor, environmental and sustainable development themes.
In 2008 Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to study Technologies Outdoors.
In 2011 Juliet became the first Scottish person to become an International Skogsmulle Leader.
Since becoming a consultant, Juliet has been able to continue meeting and exchanging ideas with
other professionals in the UK and world-wide. After years of ghostwriting and public blogging, Juliet is now an author of Dirty Teaching: A Beginner’s Guide to Learning Outdoors – published in 2014.

Introduction to Skogsmulle - Rose Joyce

Rose is a retired teacher, author and outdoor learning consultant.
Rose was one of the first U.K. educationalists to visit a Rain or Shine
school and observe Skosgmulle practice and duly wrote the first english language book Outdoor Learning Past and Present to document the growth of Skogsmulle.
Having followed Skosgmulle and attended the international symposia in Russia, Japan & Latvia, Rose became involved in Skogsmulle UK, helping to bring the early years nature pedagogy to the UK and more recently in 2015 the first training of Under 3’s in the Forest Buds at Lymfield Outdoor Centre.
Currently heavily involved with Lymefield Outdoor Centre, Rose is particularly interested in bringing outdoor learning specialists to Lymefield to run courses such as the Swedish Skogsmulle course, Maths, Literacy and technology in the outdoors.

Bren is an Early Years teacher, Forest School Leader and a Skogsmulle Leader at her school, Ysgol Y Wern.
Ysgol y Wern has embraced outdoor learning pedagogies, such as Forest School and Skosgmulle in their efforts to develop learning in a Welsh medium school. We will explore the benefits of the outdoors as environment to help children achieve and develop their bi-lingual skills.

Adventure Camp – Ignite Unlocking Potential

If you want your child to have a real and meaningful experience during school holidays and are looking for something a bit different that they will happily talk and talk about for months on end, then our Adventure Camp is the perfect choice.

Set in our amazing 500 acre park, children learn how to live independently as they camp in our large bell tents, and engage in healthy and fun ‘old-school’ activities in and around the woodland, with friends old and new.

Whether your girl or boy is sporty or arty, quiet or outgoing, competitive or not, our Adventure Camp provides physical activities that every child can engage with. In addition, children will develop physically, emotionally, and mentally as they explore the natural environment, discovering new things and ways of learning. And lastly…they will sleep like logs when they return for their first night back at home!

Parents and carers are often stunned at the significant impacts on their children’s confidence, communication skills and happiness. With some of our campers returning time and time again as they enjoy their experiences so much.

Adventure Camp - Ignite Unlocking Potential

DISCOUNT when booking 2nd adventure camp session

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"LIVING AND LEARNING INDEPENDENTLY OUTDOORS"

Your child will live and breathe the outdoors, they will have fun, learn new skills, gain independence whilst setting up their camp, help with cooking, get muddy, wet, and most importantly, will make new friends.

Your child will be safe and well with our qualified and DBS checked staff, who have over 20 years combined experience running residentials and action camps, but more importantly experience of how to integrate children in activities and overnights to ensure safety and wellbeing.

Dare Valley Nature Kindergarten

School’s out….forever! Well, here at The Dare Valley Nature Kindergarten our school is outside, located in our woodland area, set in the beautiful Dare Valley Country Park.

Outdoor learning at our Nature Kindergarten will help your child develop physically, emotionally, and mentally. Children who attend our forest school are able to explore nature in depth which in turn can have significant impacts on their confidence, communication skills and happiness.

We will soon have places for 35 children, who on a full time basis, will spend 80% of their time outside, then for the remaining 20% of the time, we have our Yurt, 2 Tipi’s and the former outdoor education building leased to us from RCTCBC.

If your children excel playing outside, using their imagination, then they will no doubt be totally suited to spending every day at our welcoming forest school. We have a teaching team of 8, including qualified teachers who teach subjects such as Messy Maths, Literacy in the outdoors and Mindstretchers: Nurturing Nature.

Dare Valley Nature Kindergarten Taster / Open Day - SIGN UP

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"BEING OUTDOORS BENEFITS CHILDREN, ADULTS AND THE OUTDOORS"

Our LadyBird Parent Toddler group is a great example where children from 6 months to 3 years explore the woods, continually taking risks as part of their play. Many parents remark that seeing their children near fire and playing with sticks, wood and mud reminds them of their childhood; so it seems strange that the culture to our children taking risks is still so adverse.

We then run afternoon sessions providing 2.5-5 year old children with a safe and exciting environment in the nature kindergarten.This will soon be extended so that children can attend our outdoor school, 08:00 – 18:00, 5 days a week!

A child’s curiosity for nature and the environment naturally sparks further development in all the areas we want to see our children grow in.

Gaining those all important skills such as speech and language, physical development, emotional and social wellbeing is imperative for our future generations to be able to excel in life, no matter the path they choose to take.

“The outdoors can be such an exciting adventure for children. They are instinctively interested in the environment around them which brings about a high level of attention, fascination and concentration.”

“The opportunity to fuel my son’s desire to learn before he is committed to a classroom is invaluable.”

A recent Independent article explains how “The pioneering Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 has been described by the United Nations as “world-leading”. Among other things, its seven well-being goals aim to make Wales a healthier place, where physical and mental well-being are maximised and in which choices and behaviours that benefit future health are understood.”

“Skogsmulle, the Swedish Early Years nature based pedagogy can help support the childcare and education system in meeting the physical, social and emotional needs of today’s children as well as innovative legislation like the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.”

Ignite Unlocking Potential are a recognised provider of Forest School training and are members of the Forest School Association and we offer a range of accredited and non accredited Forest School program options that can be tailored to specific requirements depending on need.

We work with organisations and schools to identify how Forest School can be incorporated into existing provision and can recommend and develop bespoke Forest School programs aligned to specific needs for early years professionals and practitioners. Forest School Training Wales has been around for over 15 years with the Forest School Training Network. Forest School Training Wales

Forest School is a proven pedagogical methodology and one which has been adopted extensively throughout Scandinavia where it has become a key element of Early Years provision.

Forest School provides a unique way of creating a child centered learning environment which fosters independence and self esteem in children through involvement in stimulating outdoor learning activities that enhance physical, mental and social development.

Unique and Unrivaled Forest School

We have embedded the following key features as a result of feedback from customers to provide a unique and unrivalled forest school training offering:

E-learning for theory element (we are the only provider in the U.K. to offer a blended approach to the delivery of Forest School training)

The latest theories and international practice to inform delivery and application

Qualified teacher tutors able to apply current curriculum knowledge

Local delivery to make learning relevant to your environment

Our own woodland to facilitate practical skills application

Ongoing portfolio and practical support to translate the training into practice

“Lifelong learning and the Future Wellbeing of Generations Act, 2015, strengthens the need even more for playing and learning outdoors to aid the development and learning of young children.”.

With significant interest from Educators globally, the Skogsmulle International Symposium 2017 will give pedagogues the opportunity to experience and share innovation in Early Years practice through a series of workshops and master classes.
Ignite Unlocking Potential will showcase Wales’ first Nature Kindergarten and its leading edge practice, providing international pedagogues with a unique firsthand experience to observe how Nature Pedagogy has been embedded into a Foundation Phase setting in Wales.

DAY 1 SPEAKERS, WORKSHOPS & MASTERCLASSES INCLUDE:

Claire Warden

Claire Warden is an educational consultant who has developed her approach to nature pedagogy and experiential learning through a variety of experiences. Her experiences have taken her on a pathway that includes working in a variety of types of centre, advisory work, and lecturing in further education. Claire is currently based in Scotland but frequently travels to Australia, the United States and elsewhere.

As a lecturer in Primary Education at Strathclyde University, the development of training strategies and course creation have been applied to the dynamic and creative work currently undertaken by the company she first started, ‘Mindstretchers Ltd’. It has now grown to develop many aspects, including Claire’s own company, ‘Claire Warden Ltd’, through which Claire does her international and consultancy work, and her Community Interest Company, ‘Living Classrooms’, through which many community focussed projects have been delivered and which is now at the centre of the new International Association of Nature Pedagogy.

Claire Warden is an author of many books and materials relating to early years methodology. These include ‘The Potential of a Puddle’, which details UK national vision and values for outdoor play; ‘Talking and Thinking Floorbooks’, which presents the planning methodology that supports consultation and democracy in early education; ‘The Right to be Me’, which explores the rights of young children to high quality provision and ‘Nurture through Nature’, which explores working with children under three outside. ‘Nature Kindergartens and Forest Schools’ explores children’s connection to nature and naturalistic spaces such as forest schools, forest kindergartens, woodland camps, nature kindergartens. Claire’s latest book, Learning With Nature – Embedding Outdoor Practice, which is published by Sage, has been very well received and is rapidly gaining a place as required reading on many academic education courses.

Claire is also still closely involved with her own nature kindergarten, Auchlone Nature Kindergarten, in Perth and Kinross in Scotland. This outdoor nursery works with children from 2-6 yrs old, who spend up to 90% of their time outside. The three spaces of ‘inside’, ‘outside’ and ‘beyond’ are mindfully linked so as to develop skills and confidence in a predominantly natural environment.

Claire is one of a leadership group of consultants who make up the World Nature Collaborative, a working party of the World Forum Foundation. The purpose of the group is to develop a cohesive network and approach to experiential learning in outdoor spaces in a variety of climates. The nature collaborative brings together educators, landscape architects, environmentalists and health workers to support a multidisciplinary approach to outdoor educational provision. Mindstretchers continues to work closely with Local Authorities to support all aspects of education from 0-11 years. Claire has written courses to meet the needs in home based environments such as childminders and shared day care spaces such as playgroups .

Mindstretchers is also on the consultative committee on the place of Risk in Learning to the Scottish Government.

Alun Davies

Alun was born in Tredegar and went to Tredegar Comprehensive School followed by the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth where he read Politics. He was elected President of National Union of Students Wales. He first worked as a campaigner on
environmental issues for the World Wide Fund for Nature, and later as a poverty campaigner for Oxfam.
Alun worked as public and corporate affairs manager for Hyder which combined Wales’ main utilities. He was Head of Public Affairs at the UK Atomic Energy Authority, and later became Director of Corporate Affairs for S4C. In 2004 he established Bute Communications, his own public affairs consultancy.
On 13 May 2011 Alun was appointed Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and European Programmes. Between 14 March 2013 and 8 July 2014 Alun was Minister for Natural Resources and Food. Alun was appointed Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language on 19 May 2016.

The Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language is responsible for:

Vikki Howells

Vikki Howells is the Welsh Labour Assembly Member for Cynon Valley and her political interests include education; transport and the
economy; tackling poverty; community regeneration, and heritage
and culture.

Vikki is a lifelong resident of Cynon Valley, and was educated at St John Baptist Church in Wales High school, Aberdare, before attending the University of Wales, Cardiff, where she gained a bachelor’s degree in International and Welsh History, and a master’s degree in Modern Welsh History. Whilst studying at Cardiff, Vikki received the Charles Morgan award in recognition of her contribution to the field of Welsh History. Vikki is married and has a daughter.

Vikki worked as a History teacher at St Cenydd Community School, Caerphilly,
from 2000 to 2016, where she also undertook a range of pastoral roles, most
recently serving as Assistant Head of Sixth Form. Vikki has also worked as a
mentor for trainee teachers and has sat on the admissions panel for the History
PGCE course at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

Vikki joined the Labour Party at the age of 17 and has undertaken many roles
within her Constituency, including Women’s Officer and CLP Chair.

Darren Lewis

Darren Lewis is a passionate advocate of nature pedagogy as a means of facilitating interest-led, engaging and experiential learning programmes that develop physical, cognitive and social/emotional capability.
A qualified Teacher and Trainer, Darren founded Ignite following a visit
to Sweden where he observed first-hand the multitude of benefits children experience through learning in the outdoors.
After becoming the first teaching practitioner in Wales to become a certified Swedish Outdoor Learning pedagogue, Darren established Ladybirds ( a Nature Parent & Toddler group) & Wales First Nature Kindergarten based in Dare Valley Country Park.
A Director of the Forest School Association and Training Consultant for Mindstretchers™, Darren’s vision is to enable children in Wales to experience the rich learning experiences that only outdoors environments can provide to enable their full potential to be ignited and nurtured.

Christine Lewis

Christine is a Chartered member of the CIPD and certified Teacher, Trainer and
Coach. Christine has held various senior HR roles in the Telecommunications, Financial Services, Software Services and Retail sectors both in the UK and Middle East. A passionate advocate of facilitating learning and development interventions that enable people (both big and small) to unlock their potential and become the best version of themselves.

Steve Oakes - AQR International

Steve heads up AQR’s educational division and has responsibility for Business and Product development strategy is this sector. He manages product and material development for this sector as well as delivery and account management. Working with schools and colleges to make a positive impacts on key issues such as transition, attainment, bullying, employability, aspirations, classroom behaviour, and peer relationships.

Formerly Assistant Director of Sixth Form at Blue Coat School in Oldham where he led a programme since 2012 to embed a mental toughness culture throughout the school. Blue Coat School has won acclaim for producing one of the best sets of A level results in the UK. Blue Coat is a teaching school. Steve is adding to his practical experience by working on a PhD in Mental Toughness under the supervision of Professor Peter Clough.

Introduction to Skogsmulle - Juliet Robertson

Juliet’s interest in working with children outdoors began back in 1986 with a
gap year during an Environmental Science degree. During this time, she volunteered in the community and green sectors and worked at an urban environmental education centre in Philadelphia, USA. Before entering teaching she was a self-employed archaeologist and a seasonal assistant countryside ranger.
As a primary school teacher, Juliet continued to do a variety outdoor activities with children on a frequent and regular basis. She took children for weekly visits to the local woods and kick- started a school grounds development work. In conjunction with local rangers she set up a lunchtime Wildlife Watch Club. In 1995, she had a year-long teaching exchange to an outdoor centre in Ontario, Canada.This was a wonderful year and sowed the seeds of many ideas to come.
From 1998 to 2007, Juliet was a head teacher of three different schools, ranging in size from 6 to 270 pupils. Her international experience continued with study visits and educational trips to Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Norway and Bulgaria which focused on outdoor, environmental and sustainable development themes.
In 2008 Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship to study Technologies Outdoors.
In 2011 Juliet became the first Scottish person to become an International Skogsmulle Leader.
Since becoming a consultant, Juliet has been able to continue meeting and exchanging ideas with
other professionals in the UK and world-wide. After years of ghostwriting and public blogging, Juliet is now an author of Dirty Teaching: A Beginner’s Guide to Learning Outdoors – published in 2014.

Introduction to Skogsmulle - Rose Joyce

Rose is a retired teacher, author and outdoor learning consultant.
Rose was one of the first U.K. educationalists to visit a Rain or Shine
school and observe Skosgmulle practice and duly wrote the first english language book Outdoor Learning Past and Present to document the growth of Skogsmulle.
Having followed Skosgmulle and attended the international symposia in Russia, Japan & Latvia, Rose became involved in Skogsmulle UK, helping to bring the early years nature pedagogy to the UK and more recently in 2015 the first training of Under 3’s in the Forest Buds at Lymfield Outdoor Centre.
Currently heavily involved with Lymefield Outdoor Centre, Rose is particularly interested in bringing outdoor learning specialists to Lymefield to run courses such as the Swedish Skogsmulle course, Maths, Literacy and technology in the outdoors.

Bren is an Early Years teacher, Forest School Leader and a Skogsmulle Leader at her school, Ysgol Y Wern.
Ysgol y Wern has embraced outdoor learning pedagogies, such as Forest School and Skosgmulle in their efforts to develop learning in a Welsh medium school. We will explore the benefits of the outdoors as environment to help children achieve and develop their bi-lingual skills.

Skogsmulle International Symposium 2017 – keynote day 1

Attendees of this year’s 60th year celebration of the Skogsmulle International Symposium, led by Ignite Unlocking Potential, will see the event commence with an address from Alun Davies, Minister for Lifelong Learning.

Mr Davies said “My focus is ensuring we support our young people through their early years to make sure they have the best start in life. To achieve this we must learn from the best in the world so I am delighted to be joining what is sure to be a prestigious group of global education experts…”.

Day 1 will also include a presentation from keynote speaker, Claire Warden, the internationally renowned Educational Consultant and founder of the award winning Auchlone Nature Kindergarten in Creiff, Scotland.

“Claire is one of a leadership group of consultants who make up the World Nature Collaborative, a working party of the World Forum Foundation. The purpose of the group is to develop a cohesive network and approach to experiential learning in outdoor spaces in a variety of climates. The nature collaborative brings together educators, landscape architects, environmentalists and health workers to support a multidisciplinary approach to outdoor educational provision.”

Also, Vikki Howells, Welsh Labour Assembly Member for Cynon Valley will be attending the first day of the symposium and said “As well as highlighting the vision and determination of Ignite Unlocking Potential, it will give us the chance to showcase Welsh approaches to early years learning through the Foundation Phase, learn from the best international practice and also develop solutions to problems like the ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’, where our young people feel disconnected from the natural world”.

The best outdoor classroom

Darren Lewis is founder of the social enterprise Cyfleon, that concentrates on community and charitable projects, and Ignite Unlocking Potential, the organisation that focusses on training and practitioner work. Side by side, both organisations utilise the outdoors to provide opportunity and unlock potential.

Darren became the first leader in Wales to become trained in the Skogsmulle pedagogy at the inaugural International Leaders course held in Stockholm in 2011 and said “Hosting this year’s Skogsmulle International Symposium 6 years later will unlock potential at a level I could not have envisaged during my training in Sweden.

Prior to the 1st day of the symposium, delegates also have the opportunity to attend either our ‘Whisky and Waterfalls’ tour, that includes a day of exploring waterfall country and a visit to the world-famous Penderyn Welsh Whisky Distillery, or our ‘Explore Dare Valley & Adventure’ for a day of walking the Darran trail and participating in Archery and Mountain Biking.

Enjoyable, innovative, informative – an event not to be missed!

With Alun Davies, AM and Minister for Life Long Learning and Claire Warden as Keynote speaker at the Skogsmulle International Symposium conference this year, it is certain to be an extremely enjoyable, innovative and informative event.

Claire, who is an internationally renowned Educational Consultant said “If you practice Forest School, or any other early years philosophy which focuses on child centered and experiential learning as well creating learning rich environments within your setting…then this is a conference not to be missed.”.

The Symposium has attracted significant interest from Educators globally and will give pedagogues the opportunity to experience and share innovation in Early Years practice through a series of workshops and master classes.

Ignite Unlocking Potential will showcase Wales’ first Nature Kindergarten and its leading edge practice as part of the conference schedule. This will provide international pedagogues with a unique firsthand experience to observe how Nature Pedagogy has been embedded into a Foundation Phase setting in Wales.

International education best practice

Darren Lewis, Ignite Unlocking Potential Director believes that hosting the International Skogsmulle Symposium “is a prime opportunity to showcase excellence in Early Years practice internationally and to demonstrate the effectiveness of Nature Pedagogy on well-being and attainment within the Foundation Phase.”.

“This is an important first step in realising Cabinet Secretary for Education, Kirsty Williams’ vision as expressed at the 2016 National Education Conference. Kirsty refers to the number of Educators visiting Finnish schools in recent years to learn the secrets of their success and vocalises her desire for Wales to be the focal point of international education best practice. We believe the Symposium is the springboard to Wales establishing itself as a country at the vanguard of excellence in Early Years practice.

The Skogsmulle International Symposium is, for the first time taking place in the UK, with previous Symposium host nations including Sweden, Finland and Japan.

Led by Ignite Unlocking Potential, the event will take place in the beautiful country park of Dare Valley, home to 500 acres of natural wonders with waterfalls, lakes, trails and hills. This idyllic location makes it the perfect setting for an outdoors conference.

This event is for Practising Skogsmulle Leaders, Early Years Professionals and Forest School Practitioners. It will be an international celebration of 60 years of Skogsmulle practice, with workshops and speakers from Sweden, UK, Latvia, Japan, Finland and many more.

Delegates at the conference will be addressed by Alun Davies, Minister for Lifelong Learning, who said “…This year’s Skogsmulle Symposium also presents us with an excellent opportunity to show the rest of the world how pioneering we in Wales have been in developing our Foundation Phase.”

Wales’ first Nature Kindergarten

Also in attendance will be Vikki Howells, Welsh Labour Assembly Member for Cynon Valley. Vikki said “It is an honour for the 2017 International Skogsmulle Symposium to be held here in the Dare Valley Country Park, home to Wales’ very first Nature Kindergarten.”.

Unlocking Potential with Skogsmulle

Ignite Unlocking Potential is a Rhondda Cynon Taff Social Enterprise that aims to inspire and unlock the potential of every child to enable them to become the best version of themselves. We are specialists in Scandinavian Nature Pedagogy and pioneer of Wales’ first Nature Kindergarten.

Skogsmulle, the Swedish Early Years Nature Pedagogy, is practiced at “Rain or Shine” pre-schools in Sweden, Latvia, Japan, Finland, Russia and the UK and supports children aged 3-7 years to experience child led nature based activities, supported by a range of habitat specific fictional characters that are used as a pedagogical tool to develop sustainable thinking.

Skogsmulle International Symposium 2017 – keynote day 1

Attendees of this year’s 60th year celebration of the Skogsmulle International Symposium, led by Ignite Unlocking Potential, will see the event commence with an address from Alun Davies, Minister for Lifelong Learning.

Mr Davies said “My focus is ensuring we support our young people through their early years to make sure they have the best start in life. To achieve this we must learn from the best in the world so I am delighted to be joining what is sure to be a prestigious group of global education experts…”.

Day 1 will also include a presentation from keynote speaker, Claire Warden, the internationally renowned Educational Consultant and founder of the award winning Auchlone Nature Kindergarten in Creiff, Scotland.

“Claire is one of a leadership group of consultants who make up the World Nature Collaborative, a working party of the World Forum Foundation. The purpose of the group is to develop a cohesive network and approach to experiential learning in outdoor spaces in a variety of climates. The nature collaborative brings together educators, landscape architects, environmentalists and health workers to support a multidisciplinary approach to outdoor educational provision.”

Also, Vikki Howells, Welsh Labour Assembly Member for Cynon Valley will be attending the first day of the symposium and said “As well as highlighting the vision and determination of Ignite Unlocking Potential, it will give us the chance to showcase Welsh approaches to early years learning through the Foundation Phase, learn from the best international practice and also develop solutions to problems like the ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’, where our young people feel disconnected from the natural world”.

The best outdoor classroom

Darren Lewis is founder of the social enterprise Cyfleon, that concentrates on community and charitable projects, and Ignite Unlocking Potential, the organisation that focuses on training and practitioner work. Side by side, both organisations utilise the outdoors to provide opportunity and unlock potential.

Darren became the first leader in Wales to become trained in the Skogsmulle pedagogy at the inaugural International Leaders course held in Stockholm in 2011 and said “Hosting this year’s Skogsmulle International Symposium 6 years later will unlock potential at a level I could not have envisaged during my training in Sweden.

Prior to the 1st day of the symposium, delegates also have the opportunity to attend either our ‘Whisky and Waterfalls’ tour, that includes a day of exploring waterfall country and a visit to the world-famous Penderyn Welsh Whisky Distillery, or our ‘Explore Dare Valley & Adventure’ for a day of walking the Darran trail and participating in Archery and Mountain Biking.